. the big push with less than two weeks before the election, president obama and mitt romney sweep across the map drawing up support in key swing states. >> we're on the homestretch now. and i think the people of colorado will get us all the way there. >> people out there are still trying to make up your mine. some of you here may still be trying to make up your mind. >> campaign controversy. indiana's republican senate candidate draws criticism for his comments on race and abortion. >> i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. >> strengthening storm, tropical storm sandy threatens the caribbean and could power up into a hurricane later today.

>> this is the "cbs morning news" for 2012. good morning. good to be with you. i'm terrell brown. with under two weeks to go now the race for the white house looks like it will be a photo finish. today president obama begins a two day six day campaign swing to critical battleground states. it includes his 7th visit of the campaign to ohio. mitt romney arrives there later today. ohio looking more and more like it might be the lynch pin of this election. susan mcginnis in washington. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. there is no denying the importance of ohio with its large number of electoral votes and right now evenly split. it looks like, you know, whichever side toes a better job of getting out the vote can go a long way towards a win. enthusiasm for the election is building and the crowd at campaign rallies are getting

bigger. more than 12,000 people turned out at the red rock amphitheater in the battleground state of colorado tuesday to hear mitt romney and paul ryan. >> we're on the homestretch now. and i think the people of colorado are going to get us all the way there. what do you think? >> reporter: across the country, president obama and vice president biden played to another packed house. >> here in ohio you can vote early. here in ohio you can vote right after this event. >> reporter: the president kicks off a six state tour today that ends with him casting his own early ballot in chicago tomorrow. mitt romney will work the west and midwest with an early afternoon rally in nevada followed by another in iowa. after months of speeches, campaigning and debating the two candidates continue to accuse one another of having no plan for the next four years. >> we haven't heard agenda from the president and that's why his campaign is taking on

water and our campaign is full speed ahead. >> i laid out plan for jobs and security. unlike mitt romney i'm proud to think about what's in my plan. >> reporter: the obama campaign plans to handout a 20-page outline of the president's agenda. the romney campaign continues to point to its website for his five-point plan. now the romney campaign calls the president's booklet a blowsy panic button. the president hammers romney with his attack word, romnesia. >> another republican candidate for the u.s. senate is in hot water for remarks concerning rape and abortion. this time it's the republican candidate in indiana richard murdoch. during a debate last night he was asked whether abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest. he said this. >> struggled myself for a long time, life is a gift from god

and even in that horrible situation it may be something god intended for it to happen. >> he later clarified god doesn't want rape. >> this week romney campaign ran an ad supporting murdoch but after last night it distanced itself. governor romney disagrees with robert murdoch's views. in august, todd akin said women's bodies can reject pregnancy from a legitimate rape. >> cbs news obtained alerts while the attack was under way. >> reporter: the emails contained the earliest descriptions so far as what happened in benghazi the night

of the attack. at 4:05:00 p.m. eastern time on september 11th an alert was issued to a number of government and intelligence agencies. included were the white house situation room, the office of director intelligence and the fbi. u.s. diplomatic mission in libya one attack. 20 people fired shots explosions heard. ambassador stevens and four chief of mission personnel are in the compound safe-haven. at 4:54 less than an hour later another alert the firing in benghazi has stopped. a response team is on site attempting to locate mission personnel. then at 6:07 state sent out another alert saying the embassy in tripoli said the islamic military group ansar al sharia has called for an attack on embassy tripoli.

it's a part of the ongoing political debate whether the administration attempted to mislead in saying the assault was an outburst of a protest rather than a planned attack by terrorists. 14 hours after the attack, president obama sat down with steve croft for a previously scheduled interview and he said he didn't believe it was due to mob violence. >> you're right that this is not a situation that was exactly the same as what happened in egypt. and my suspicion is that there are be folks involved in this who are looking to target americans from the start. >> the white house and state department declined comment on the e-mail alert. the white house oversight committee said the information in the emails will be part of their ongoing investigation into the benghazi attack. cbs moneywatch time now on a wednesday. facebook gets a lift and the best cities to find a job.

>> reporter: good morning. weak earnings reports from blue chips like dupont, u.p.s. and xerox sent shivers. dow fell 243 points. the nasdaq also fell sharply finishing below 3,000 for the first time since august. one stock that did perform well was finance, shares of the social media was lift 13% once its released its third quarter earnings. it made 14% of its revenues from mobile advertising. investors have been worried that facebook was not capitalizing on its growing mobile user base. most asian stocks stemmed losses. nikkei loss half of a percent tapping a seven day winning streak while the hang seng added a quarter offer with sent.

the united states is largest producer of oil. it's due to new oil drilling techniques. the u.s. passed russian production this year and now is the second largest producer behind saudi arabia. the u.s. will need to import lots of oil to meet its high demand. cost of higher education is going up but not as much as in the past. according to a new report, tuition at public universities is up nearly 5%. that's less than the last two years and the cost to attend a private school are also higher after declining for three years. report also finds enrollment has leveled off and borrowing for tuition is down. and career builder is out with its annual list of the best cities to find work. san jose, california tops the list of cities with the most job growth since 2010. houston and austin texas are in second and third place and detroit, michigan is in fourth.

the biggest growth industries are energy production, technology and health care. so if it doesn't work out for us here, san jose, here we come. >> missed you. good to be back. we did text every day. ashley morrison here. good to see you. coming up, the big announcement for the ipad mini. check out the latest must have tablet. the price tag may be a deal breaker. the drugmaker at the center of the meningitis outbreak accused of some disturbing safety violations. this is the morning news. and you'll always find your favorite. woman #2: with so many choices, keurig has everyone's favorite. i just press this button.

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has never been stronger. body washes with paper that reacts like skin. if others can strip this paper, imagine how harsh they can be to your skin. oh my gosh. [ female announcer ] dove is different. its new breakthrough formula changes everything. new dove. this is care. two teenage brothers in new jersey have been charged with murdering 12-year-old autumn pasquale for her bike. she lived down the street from the 15 and 17-year-old suspects. her body was found tuesday stuffed inside a blue recycling

bin. the brothers have been charged with first degree murder and could be tried as adults. the pharmacy tied to the deadly meningitis outbreak has a history of run in with health officials. the outbreak spread to 17 states and killed 23. massachusetts is moving to revoke the company's operating license and the licenses of its top three pharmacies. >> reporter: the preliminary investigation has revealed a lack of basic laboratory standards at new england compounding center. massachusetts state investigators found that necc had dirty floor mats and a leaky boiler d-motte properly test lab equipment, did not adequately sterilize medications and shipped drugs before they were tested for contamination. >> on 13 occasions necc staff shipped order from the suspect lot before receiving their own test results confirming that those lots were sterile. >> reporter: officials claim the

company broke state law by shipping their products in bulk without valid prescriptions. compounding pharmacies must have a prescription for every patient for each dose they send out. more than 17,000 vials went to clinics in 23 states. documents show complaints against necc for lack of individual prescriptions date back to 1999. necc co-owner told the state pharmacy board in 2004 that his company would abide by the law. quote, that each and every compounded medication shall be filled based on a valid prescription written by a qualified patient. there was a joint inspection of the facility in 2004. sheldon bradshaw of the agency's chief counsel. >> the fda would go back in and re-inspect. here the fda relied on their word they had corrected the problems. >> reporter: in 2006 necc

pledged to upgrade its quality assurance procedures as part of a legal agreement with the state. we called new england compounding center after the charges and respond by saying the state health board quote had numerous opportunities including as recently as last summer to make firsthand observations of the necc facilities and operations. it's hard to imagine that the board has not been fully apprised of both the manner and scale of the company's operations. >> up next on a wednesday tropical storm sandy picks up speed threatening the caribbean and apple ups the ante in the tablet war. [ male announcer ] this is anna, her long day teaching the perfect swing

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covergirl! covergirl! and try new pressed powder to help brighten your skin tone. here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. new york cloudy with showers, 62. miami showers 86. fog in the morning chicago 77. sun in dallas 86. sun in l.a., 75 degrees. let's check your national forecast. strong cold front bring showers, thunderstorms and isolated turn moving through the midwest. showers are possible across m supplies.

authorities have already closed schools and are repairing shelters in flood prone areas. if you're chomping at the bit to get a new ipad mini you have to wait two more days. apple will take orders on friday and ship it out a week later. >> reporter: apple shrinks the screen on its new ipad mini to under 8 inches, about two inches smaller than previous model. >> this is not a shrunken down ipad. -run it's in the same range as kindle fire and google 7. but with a starting price of $329 more expensive than either of those. the marketing chief described it as thin as a pencil and light as

a paper. it has 10 hours of battery life. apple's big announcement comes after a month after the company unveiled other gadgets including the iphone. andrea chang is a technology reporter. >> a lot of it is because the holiday season is coming up and for anyone that sells products you want to get in before the november period starts. >> reporter: apple has sold 100 million ipads since their debut two years ago. the company hopes when the mini goes on sale next month that number will multiply. >> i just got the last ipad. pump your brakes, apple. when we come back an amazing survival story. a man said he dragged himself four miles down a dirt road for help after he was abandoned in the middle of the desert. details next. severe rheumatoid arthritis

means living with pain. it could also mean living with joint damage. help relieve the pain and stop the damage with humira, adalimumab. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira is clinically proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. so you can treat more than just the pain. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your rheumatologist about humira, to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage before they stop you.

fever sweeps across the baye many, many ways people are trying to cash in on game o. plus: thousands of fans are expected to descend on the . will the weather hold and hw will they get around. and a razor thin race. the latest polls show the presidential candidates ared even. the epic battleground road-trip planned for today. join us for cbs 5 eyewitness news this morning... beginng at 4:30.

here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. in d.c. partly sunny, 82. nice and sunny in atlanta, 78. mostly sunny in st. louis. 84. partial sunshine in denver 57. passing showers in seattle, 50. a paraplegic man dragged himself four miles down a dirt road to get help. his is in was shredded. he was hitchhiking last week and the couple who picked him up abandoned him when he refused to share his alcohol. another survival story. an 83-year-old man and his two

dogs got stuck in the snow for three days. he sat in his truck eating peanuts and drinking an energy drink and had a cell phone and could have called 911 but he likes the outdoors. >> why get excited. i'm in a nice place. i saw deer. i saw a i have a cold... i took dayquil,

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. in the past three years music programs in los angeles public cools have been dramatically cut. now a nonprofit organization is picking up the slack and changing the lives of students in underserved communities. bill whittaker introduces us to one young man in the program who is thriving through his music. ♪ >> i love music. >> reporter: when you look at the hurdles facing this 16-year-old you might see another grim statistic. poor. his mother cheryl is on welfare to work from inner-city l.a. where more than 50% of students dropout. but don't just look. listen. ♪ >> music is beautiful.

music is like my home, my friend. we can talk. >> reporter: he began his conversation with music at 5 when his mother saw a flyer for free violin lessons. that led them to the harmony project, a program in l.a.'s most troubled neighborhood that puts instruments in these hands before the rampant gang culture puts a gun in them. >> it's been difficult for us as a family to survive. >> reporter: cheryl came to hollywood seeking fame. after seven children and a failed marriage all she found was hard times. >> i moved maybe 28 times. >> 28 times. >> we actually slept one time at the office at the harmony project. >> through all of that he held on to his music. >> it was the one constant thing in life. >> reporter: it's not about being a virtuoso. he finds virtue in music.

>> music is like my meditation. music just opened up my eyes. >> i think it's been this thread throughout his entire life. >> reporter: the charity started with 36 students. now has 1500, a waiting list of 900. almost all these kids go on the college. >> music is the vehicle we use to transform kids. to get them through school, to get them to go college, to teach them to be role models, they become mentors to younger students. >> reporter: he plans to be a teacher or marine biologist or international businessman. >> i can do it. i know i can do that. >> reporter: he learned that conversing with music. bill whittaker, los angeles. >> coming up, tracking sandy the latest storm as she heads to

cuba and the east coast. a casino heist. a robber makes off with million dollars of chips. i'm terrell brown. have a great day. ,,,,

and i'm elizabeth wenger. michelle is of >> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald. good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, october 24. i'm frank mallicoat. >> and i'm elizabeth wenger. michelle is off again this morning. time now is 4:29. >> we have some breaking news. >> we do? >> it's raining. >> a little bit. >> i noticed it driving in. >> i did, too. what's up with that, lawrence? >> we have the rainfall pushing through the